This invention relates to receiving, in a remote device through wireless communications, measurements from sensors attached to components in a piece of equipment, such as a vehicle.
Receiving information remotely from a vehicle is known in the prior art. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,442,553, 5,758,300, 6,295,492, 6,604,033, 6,611,740, 6,636,790 and U.S. published application 2003/0171111 all describe communicating information from components in a vehicle, but teach doing so through a central processor or data collection module in the vehicle. U.S. Pat. No. 5,732,074 describes communication of vehicle data to a remote computer, but discloses that the communications take place via known data network protocols, such as CAN (controller area network). U.S. Pat. No. 6,263,268 teaches sending vehicle data to clients upon request using a server located on board the vehicle.
Thus, at present, a user must depend on intermediate mechanisms, such as a central processor or CAN communications, to retrieve data from a sensor on a piece of equipment such as a vehicle. Accordingly, the need exists for an invention that enables the direct communication of data from sensors to a remote user.